MongoDB, founded in 2007, originally aimed to create a platform-as-a-service system with a new database layer. Facing competition from Google, the founders pivoted to focus solely on their database product, MongoDB—a new kind of database built for the scale of the internet era. Founder Dwight Merriman built a product that developers loved, but scaling the company proved challenging until Dev Ittycheria took the reins as CEO in 2014. As cloud computing grew, MongoDB transitioned from on-premise software to Atlas, a fully-managed cloud service. Despite initial skepticism, Atlas now represents 70% of MongoDB's revenue. As Atlas scaled, MongoDB faced another controversial decision: whether to change its open source license model to maintain its commercial moat. These pivotal decisions transformed MongoDB from a niche database to nearly $2 billion in annual revenue.
Host: Roelof Botha, Sequoia Capital
Featuring: Dwight Merriman, Dev Ittycheria and Tom Killalea
Transcript: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/crucible-moments-mongodb/
00:00 - Cold Open
00:19 - Introduction
05:30 - The NoSQL movement
09:52 - Scrapping the platform for the database
14:57 - Launching as MongoDB
19:52 - Moving to the cloud with Atlas
24:52 - Assigning a directly responsible individual
30:15 - How Atlas changed MongoDB
35:03 - Updating the licensing model to avoid “strip mining”
39:50 - Evolving back into a platform
41:26 - Executing on points of leverage
